The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1887-12-26
CHRISTMAS IN WASHINGTON.
Holiday Scenes and caiety in the
Nations Capital City.
journal Clerk Smiths Removal and
the Lesson 1t Teaches.
About Salaries and Re-
celpts In Maine Post offices.
Especial to the Press.l

WASHINGTON. Dec 24.--The departure of
Congress leaves the city free to enjoy its hol-
idays The Houses adjourned and the men,
bers fitted, but very manyimore Of them, 1t
is said, went home, than last year, when the
Interstate commerce law had not cut off
passes. The host of the department people
are here, and the host Of people who dwell
here simply to enjoy themselves, and be-
tween the two the shops have been crowded
with holiday tourists. Washington is poor
place to shop in, but all the city trade Is at
holiday time, land the comparatively few
stores are crowded with buyers. The great
Center market is bright scene almost any
day, but it possesses a peculiar fascination
about holiday time. The green that one
sees on the street adorns the market stalls as
well. The colors in the great heaps of vege-
tables and the plnmage Of birds, and grey
coat of rabbits make the picture one that
never tires. In the Center market you will
see old darkey women. with headdresses that
went out of fashion sixty years ago, with
faces so full of wrinkles that they never
could be counted; old colored men bent and
tattered, but all. jolly. grinning, happy jok-
ing one another and always expecting a
"Christmus gift."
Harry Smiths Hard Luck.
There were notlmany ChristmasIpresents in
the departments. That is the employees have
wisely dropped the custom of making pres
ent to the head of the bureaus. 1t never OBJ
tanned any wide practice and was rather
foolish, besides not being wholly given out
of a bountiful supply of generosity. Sena-
tor Stanford made all the people in the SEN
ate happy by dropping So bill to each
through Captain Bassett, the old door-keeper.
The resolution, however, trying to make up
to the employees who are pretty sure to loose
their places by the assembling and organic
ing of new Congress, by voting the dis
charged ones months salary, failed. There
was one case where 1t would indeed have
been worthy act as well as 1t was truly
needed one. This was the case of the jour
nal clerk, Harry Smith. There probably was
not one man in the employ OF the House who
felt surer of his place than Harry Smith.
He had been in the House corps for twenty
years or over had done good and faithful |
work, and was very popular among the |
members But up comes the night over the |
organization of the House. Gen. Clark, the |
clerk, got scared Gs first, and thought he |
would hardly be likely to get votes enough |
in the canvass unless he made some special |
arrangement forlsecuring them. The Indiana |
Democrats held off little, and to get them |
ne pIOullStQ lutLu tillo pldCt. II WAC uAlN
for Smith to 60. His wife was sick and he |
had not been very successful in saving |
money. 1t is one of the little lessons with |
moral which every now and then attaches an |
occurrence in governmental office. II Is up |
and then down, in and out.
Daniel Manning lin Washington.
The treasury people seem to feel really |
very sorry for the loss of Daniel Manning. |
Manning was kind to his followers, and was |
a sympathetic man. But he was great deal |
over-rated. You win hear many keen |
Judge of men about here say he was hard |
worker and studied finances closely after |
coming here. He used to work late into the |
night very often. Work was all he had here. |
He cared not snap of his fingers for the So
cial pleasures of the capital city, as it was
easy enough for the commonplace observer |
to see, watching the State receptions at the /
White House. when his young wife dragged
him out on dress parade. He never took any |
exercise, and plethoric, apOplectic as be was, /
that was dangerous in the greatest degree. |
His financial messages were a source of |
much study to him. They were largely writ /
ten by others, or so written to such degree |
that the work was out of his hands. Secre- |
tary Fairchild and Judge Maynard were very |
close to him, and knew his leaning The |
three wGrked well together, and since Fair
has worked on in the same lines.
The Generous Public.
1t is interesting to notice how quickly the
public takes an opportunity of helping the
government along. One Of the local papers
here the other day happened to speak of the
bad and. broken condition of Mr.. lngalls's
gavel. At.once.a fine. new one was brought
in. The tpatriot is Charles Ufferhast of
Charleston, S. c., veteran of the Mexican
war. The gavel does not weigh more than an
ounce or two, but it contains no less than
$50 separate pieces of wood, of various
kinds and shades, composed into beautiful
mosaic of bright colors. The gavel is en-
closed in a L shaped, velvet lined casket,
which Is also a pretty specimen of lnlaid
woodwork. The whole Is the handiwork Of
the old veteran. The gavel was referred to
the committee on rules for them to say
whether or not the gavel could be accepted.
The committee will probably report in the
affirmative, and Senator Ingalls, will no lon
ger be under the necessity of using an ink
bottle to rap the table with.
Maine Post offices.
The Postmaster Generals report shows
some interesting figures bearing on the
Maine Offices: